Before watching Disney's new animated film "Frozen" this winter, Possum Juniors will treat audiences with its latest production, "The Snow Queen," which debuts Thursday at Possum Hall in Georgetown.

"The Snow Queen" is a fairytale play adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's classic novel of the same name, which the film "Frozen" is loosely based on.

The play will run each day this weekend with the final show date on Sunday.

She's as cold as ice

Neighbors Gerda and Kai are the best of friends. On a chilly day, Kai's grandmother tells the kids a tale about The Snow Queen, an evil witch that dwells in an icy palace near the North Pole. The powerful Snow Queen, clad in a white fur coat, uses glass from a magical mirror to cast spells on her victims. If a spec of glass enters a person's eye, they'll immediately lose their memory, their heart will turn cold and they'll no longer appreciate the beautiful things of the world, except for snowflakes.

After Kai tells his grandmother he'd cook The Snow Queen in an oven if she ever came near him, the witch uses her magic wand to send pieces of glass into the foolish lad's eyes and heart, turning him into a hateful child.

Now under The Snow Queen's spell, Kai begs the enchantress to take him back to her frosty palace, which she gladly does.

Hopeful she can rescue her friend, Gerda braves the cold and follows after him. But little does she know the long, frigid journey that lies ahead is also a very dangerous one.

"I like how innocent she is," said 14-year-old rising Sussex Technical High School freshman Abby Thornberg, cast as Gerda. "The reason she's going on this adventure to find Kai is because he suddenly changed. I want him home. I want to him back to who he used to be."

Devon Lynch, cast as Kai, relishes his dark role.

"It's really exciting because I haven't played a lead in a long time," said Lynch, 14, of Georgetown. "I think it's really cool that everybody is looking [at] me. It's really cool playing Kai while he's under The Snow Queen's spell because he can't even remember Gerda or anyone."

Lowdown on Possum Juniors

Possum Juniors, created by the Possum Point Players during the early '90s, is an acting workshop designed for sixth-graders through 12th-graders. The program is held the third Monday of each month from September through May, with an annual summer production in July.

PJs also allows late teens to gain directing experience like Isaac Van Curen, the 18-year-old director of "The Snow Queen." Thursday's show will mark Van Curen's directorial debut.

Page 2 of 2 - "Some of the things I learned [as director] is how to lead people, how to organize and how to really just get the vision that I had for the show onto the stage and how to direct the kids to make this vision come to life," said Van Curen, of Seaford, who recently graduated from Sussex Central in the spring.

His goal is to become a sponge this summer before heading up to Ithaca College in New York where he'll major in both mathematics and theater studies.

"I hope to go up there and get more experience in directing, producing, design," Van Curen said. Ultimately, Van Curen's dream is to "hopefully get a job at a major theater company."